Description
Research indicates that Civil Empowerment Index of Lithuanian society remains low, at the same time it is evident that students are the group with the biggest potential in this area. The project aims at fostering active citizenship through mobilising local communities and developing their participatory role strengthened on the grassroots level. This shall be achieved by introducing democracy education principles into school curriculum and providing space and opportunities for school communities to test democracy in practice. Independent mentors and experts shall guide 5 schools through process of development of democracy education. 400 children shall directly participate in project activities, and the rest shall benefit indirectly from change brought by project. Full methodology for introduction of democracy education into schools shall be prepared and national application advocated with the Ministry of Education. Target groups: children, school communities; decision makers in education. Indirect beneficiaries: families of students; society at large.
Summary of project results
Research shows that civil power of Lithuanian society has not been growing in recent years and remained relatively low. The same research has discovered that school students possess the highest civic potential and could the most active in various civic initiatives. Official state level documents on education declare that a great share of responsibility for educating creativity of young people and fostering open society lies on secondary schools, which must provide necessary environment for students so they could become active participants of civil society. However, it is doubtful that this approach is being applied in practice – civic education is often limited to carrying out of formal lectures, while school students have little or no opportunity to practice democracy in real life at school and beyond. The objective of this pilot project was to contribute to building active society in Lithuania. The project focus was on applying and fostering a model of democratic schooling that allows students and teachers practice democracy on a daily basis and thrive through active participation in vibrant learning communities. Five schools were guided to and implemented individual democratic schooling projects. 8 events were organized to build competences, inform and share experiences of the project. More than 400 people were involved in the project activities directly, even more – indirectly during the projects at school. Democratic schooling guidelines were created to ensure the continuity of the project. The application expanded its scope of activities and improved the knowledge of democratic schooling. There is a great interest of public schools in the implementation of democratic practices. Project promoter is currently working with the two new schools and it already generates income for the organization. In September 2015 Sekmes mokykla has opened the first democratic school in Lithuania. Institute of democratic education is foreseen to open soon as well. The main beneficiaries of the project were school communities. Indirect beneficiaries – students’ families, public at large.
Summary of bilateral results